FEEDBACK ENVIRONMENT IN LESS-HIERARCHICAL AND SELF-MANAGED ORGANIZATIONS Exploring work engagement and organizational citizenship behavior

Abstract

This research provides a better understanding of communication processes such as feedback environment, work engagement and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) in less-hierarchical, self-managed organizations. Recent studies shed light on feedback environment, work engagement and other motivated behaviors that employees perform in organizations. Theories such as Organizational Citizenship Behavior, which describes employee’s voluntary commitment within an organiza-tion, were used to understand employees’ behaviors at work. However, little re-search has been made regarding feedback environment, work engagement and Or-ganizational Citizenship Behavior in self-managed and less-hierarchical organiza-tions. Therefore, this study aims to understand how feedback environment engages employees and further, how their work engagement enhances their Organizational Citizenship Behavior. This study follows a qualitative approach, including 33 semi-structured interviews and 3 focus groups, studying the case of a Swedish-Ukrainian IT company characterized by self-management and the lack of middle manage-ment. The findings indicate that a positive feedback environment in a less-hierar-chical organization with self-managed teams affects work engagement positively. Furthermore, work engagement affects certain aspects of Organizational Citizen-ship Behavior; specifically, social participation, knowledge-sharing and helping. Although the findings reflect the perception of a medium-sized organization, this paper can still deliver important qualitative insights for organizations and raises topics for future research regarding communication processes in a less-hierarchical and self-managed environment.